Imafan's 2022 Garden

[applestar]

@imafan, I’m going to try to overwinter some eggplants in doors this winter. I’ve had some successes with peppers and tomatoes as you are aware, and they have uniquely specific needs.

So for reference, could you outline/summarize typical eggplant behavior you’ve observed during your winter months? If you could add rough temp and rainfall that might point to their care needs that would be great.

These will point to which microclimate part of the house or garage I will keep them, or will need to move them while overwintering.

Do you get any harvest? Do you prune before the cooler season or before growing/warmer season rainy season etc. begins?

[imafan26]

Good idea. Thanks.

It is around 69 degrees at night and day temperatures are around 80. The day is about 11 hrs and 20 minutes long. My shortest day will be 10 hrs and 41 minutes. The eggplant is still flowering and producing fruit, the last couple of years in La Nina, the winters have been warm so the temperatures have stayed higher (in the 70's during the day) peppers and eggplant have continued to set fruit through the winter months. Eggplant requires more warmth than peppers to keep producing fruit. I usually don't prune eggplant unless it gets in the way or the branches break. Eggplant in the ground can get over 5 ft tall and live 8-10 years, but I grow mine in 18 gallon containers and I only keep them 2-3 years because production drops significantly. Eggplant are easy to grow and fast to mature from seeds. Seeds do not germinate well in the cold. I usually cannot germinate eggplant seeds in the winter months. They either don't germinate or germinate poorly. They will germinate best in temperatures above 80 degrees.

The winter months are the best times to grow temperate crops. Like tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and leaf crops like lettuce and Asian greens. I select for disease resistance in the winter. Resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases are a priority. I did plant garlic on October 25, I will not get very large bulbs just because it does not get cold enough and the days are not long enough to get large bulbs. The soft neck variety I can plant also does not keep that well. Kale, and tropicals will grow year round but things like jicama and sweet potato grow much slower in the cold. For the summer months, I grow the same types of things but I will look for disease resistance, but also for heat tolerance. Some cool crops like lettuce, broccoli, Brussels' sprouts, carrots,peas, and cilantro can be started in 80 degree temperatures but need to mature in temperature's less than 75 degrees to keep them from turning bitter or bolting. Kale and chard can grow all year long, but the chard will have more issues with bacterial and cercospora leaf spots in the rainy season. I can grow cool season crops for a longer time because of my elevation.

Now, the Jamaican ginger and turmeric have already bloomed and need to be harvested. the leaves are starting to dry. I am already late harvesting the araimo. Some of the corms have started to rot.

The citrus trees are putting out new leaves. Many of the citrus fruit are over ripe and falling.

A large branch from the neighbor's African Tulip tree fell on my wall and plants this morning. So, I had to cut what I could with the rip saw and push the rest of it over the wall.

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan

It’s strange to hear those temps — 80’s/69— that would be my summertime normal. Really underscores our climate differences.

I think based on your summary, I will put the eggplants in the Family Room where the temps will be kept at the most comfortable levels and warmest during the day.

I have three of them sharing a really big pot and have pruned them down to a taller (maybe 24~30 inches) Y shape (larger, with more retained leaves and terminal structure style than with overwintering peppers), maybe two flower buds along each that I may or may not disbud — I don’t think I will really expect them to fruit over the winter, but I want them to stay in a kind of “slow production mode”. I know mites will be a big issue….

Neighbor’s tree? What a hassle

[imafan26]

Yeah, mites are a problem here too in summer. I have a lot of predators with the pollinator garden and the cooler weather and rain usually makes spider mites less of a problem, but broad mites are sneakier. Broad mites are usually not a problem with eggplant but they are problems with basil and peppers. Eggplant will mature slower in colder weather. As long as it is in a room with good light and temperatures that are comfortable for people then it usually is o.k. I do have to say that with a grain of salt though. I actually think 72 degrees is cold and 80 is good as long as there is a breeze and the humidity is less than 70%. If space is an issue. Eggplant will also grow from cuttings. If the cuttings are made earlier and rooted they will take up less inside space and grow very slowly. They will take off once it warms up. Eggplant seeds are so easy to grow especially if I get the seeds from a mature eggplant instead of seeds from a packet. They will sprout much faster than seeds that have been stored as long as the temperature is at least 80 degrees.

[applestar]

This conversation reminded me I’d better order mite predators.

They are evidently prevalent outside in my garden, but they don’t necessarily hitchhike inside with the Fall migration in sufficient numbers. Over the years, I’ve settled on californicus species which is more forgiving of the challenging winter indoor conditions and are not as discriminating about their target mite species, even though they are not as voracious as some others.

I need to order them while overall temps are still milder. I will be ordering the ladybugs when it’s colder and they will stay dormant or less active in shipment, but before the deep freeze arrives.

[imafan26]

I have to raise my own predators with the flower and nectar garden. The State Department of Ag makes it very difficult to import anything that is alive. Beneficial insects, live plants, most bulbs, and beneficial nematodes are very hard to import. It is hard to find any supplier who is willing to ship outside of the contiguous states who has an export certificate for Hawaii.

I never gets cold enough to kill off bugs and because most plants won't go dormant, the bugs are active year round. Their populations may decrease, but they are never gone. The rain and cooler temperatures is usually enough to keep spider mites at bay. I have good predators so aphids and most insects are not a problem. The geckos eat a lot of the flying insects, as well as crawling ones. The snails are back now that it is getting wetter so I am finding snails every couple of days. I haven't seen the toad in a while.

[imafan26]

I started looking at the seed availability for next year. I guess I am a little early. Some of the seeds are still out of stock. I did pick up a few seeds. I don't really need that much anyway. There are a couple of more things I wanted but I did not have a large enough order to meet the minimum shipping charge and they were out of stock of the seeds I did want, so I will have to wait to see if I can get those seeds later when more seeds come back into stock.

I wanted the Provider bush beans, and the herbs since these are not hard to start from seed and they never live long. I also plant Tokyo Bekana repeatedly almost all year. I tested Majestic Red bell for the first time this year and it has been one of the better performers for a disease resistant bell, so I wanted to get more seeds of it. Aristotle and Burpee's Experimental #5 were the other good ones with good resistance to bacterial spot. The peppers weren't very big, but I am hoping planting them in the cooler weather might make a difference. Chinese Giant Still produces the biggest peppers, but it has no bacterial spot resistance. I am still looking for the best tomato. I can only grow the TYLCV resistant tomatoes. Only the red currant will produce in the heat and have the best flavor. I have to grow the non resistant ones in a tree bag, so no indeterminates can be grown that are not resistant. I know Valentine is good and can be sweet. I was not sweet in my garden, but that may be because of my garden conditions. So, I am growing it again in a pot where I can control the pH better.

From Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
71237 Oregano, Greek ✔ $2.75 1 $2.75
71234 Marjoram, Sweet ✔ $2.75 1 $2.75
71241 Sage, Common ✔ $2.75 1 $2.75
13110G Provider Bush Snap Bean ✔ $6.75 1 $6.75
71220 Cumin $2.50 1 $2.50
22505 Tokyo Bekana Chinese Cabbage ✔ $2.75 3 $8.25
71306 Poppy, Breadseed, Hungarian Blue ✔ $3.25 1 $3.25

From Seeds n Such:

Majestic Red Hybrid Sweet Bell Pepper Packet - 10 to 12 Seeds 1 $3.99
Asti Hybrid Mix Osteospermum - Packet - 5 Seeds
1
Asti Hybrid Mix Osteospermum Packet - 5 Seeds 1 $3.99
Mountain Merit Hybrid Tomato VFFFNTswvEbLb - Packet - 8 to 10 Seeds
1
Mountain Merit Hybrid Tomato VFFFNTswvEbLb Packet - 8 to 10 Seeds 1 $3.99
Goliath Bush Hybrid Tomato VFN - Packet: 25 - 30 Seeds
1
Goliath Bush Hybrid Tomato VFN Packet: 25 - 30 Seeds 1 $3.99

[imafan26]

It has been a cool and intermittently raining. There was abeautiful rainbow this morning against the grey sky. I was in the car so I could not do it. While it was cold and wet where I live, down the hill the "desert" only had light sprinkles and mostly sunny skies. It is 2 p.m. in the afternoon and it is 77 degrees still overcast on my side of the island. It is hard to believe sometimes that I only live 6 miles from the "desert" downhill.

I got up early this morning to run errands. I forgot to return the School keys so I did that and did some pricing on drip system parts for the garden. I forgot it was mangoes in the garden, but since I was there I went along with the class. It was interesting to learn about the experiments to get mango to bloom out of season. It is not useful for me though, since I don't have a mango tree and I am not planning to get one. Mango does better in a hotter and drier part of the island. I am going to the citrus workshop next week, because I do grow citrus in containers and that would be more useful for me.

I have had two Thanksgiving parties this week. I have leftovers in my frig that I don't mind eating cold. I am good for a few days. I was offered some tangerines and pomelo today, but I declined. I have too much stuff in my frig already.
I planted 4 herb bowls and filled the 18 gallon pot for the peas ( I haven't planted yet.) I also cut back the ajaka basil. Cleaned up a few of the dead and empty pots. I am waiting for the lettuce seedlings under the eggplant to get bigger so I can put the thinnings in the tower. The winter orchids are starting to bloom. I got a phalaenopsis, and a catleya seedling last night at the orchid club Thanksgiving party/meeting, as well as some sphagnum moss. it was worth driving 20 miles to go to the first in person meeting the club has had since 2020. We have only been meeting on zoom for the last 3 of years. My other orchid club has had in person meetings since July. The third orchid club still only meets on zoom and does not plan to resume in person meetings until January.

[imafan26]

I am trying to eat what I have. I finally finished the Costco rotisserie chicken. I used what was left to make a soup? It started out as jook, but it ended up as something else. I used the vegetables I had on hand, onions, peppers, eggplant I harvested yesterday and zucchini. I used a two stalks of celery and two carrots I bought a while ago. I also added some dried shitake mushroom and the soaking water. I diced a Portuguese sausage and sauteed it with the vegetables. Added sazon (which made it red), oyster sauce, 1 qut of unsalted chicken broth, and a couple of leftover packets of chicken base from the ramen noodles. I added oyster sauce as well . Added some water and 1.5 cups of washed raw rice and simmered that until the rice was cooked. It does not look or taste like jook, but it still tastes pretty good. At least it is nice to have in this cooler weather and I won't have to cook for a couple of days. I can add some spinach, chard, or Bekana to it to change it up one bowl at a time.

I finally got around to replanting the snow peas and covering the pot.

Many of the chard plants have cercospora leaf spots. They are old, so I may have to change most of them out. Obsession DMR that was bred for downy mildew resistance, has downy mildew. I guess it can't be grown in the rainy season.

[applestar]

Chard is supposed to be easy to grow, yet, I always have problems… and the related beets, too.

I was able to grow decent (not great) beets for the first time this year after adding what seemed like “obscene” amount of dolomitic lime to the bed, and then side dressing two more times with dolomitic lime.

I’m trying to grow spinach now, which is another one, and am seeing very slow development. Maybe more like is needed for them as well.

Do you grow your chards differently from orher greens?

[Gary350]

My father use to toss, beet seeds, chard seeds, turnip seeds, spinach seeds, into the wind let them land in the snow where every they want. Spring came snow melted about the time garden weather was warm enough to plant the garden, beets, turnips, chard, spinach was ready to harvest.

When I moved to TN 1977 a 70 year old woman told me how she plants winter crops. She had her garden rows marked with fence posts. Post #4 was carrots, sprinkle seeds 12" wide 10' long in the snow then about June 1st carrots were ready to harvest. Post #5 was beets & chard sprinkle seeds in the snow then June they were ready to harvest.

The first time I sprinkled seeds in the snow was about 1979 it worked great I had a lot of beets. They taste nothing like grocery store beets they actually taste good. Most of the time this works & some times it doesn't, I'm not sure if bad seeds are the problem or no snow that year is the problem. Last winter I sprinkled red chard seeds in the snow they grew. I like red chard better than green I eat it on sandwiches like lettuce. I dice it for tacos too.

My neighbor grew a spinach bed 4 ft wide 20 ft long. He has a grow area in his garage where he started seeds in pots. He planted spinach 4" apart in 12 rows 4" apart about 700 plants, I never saw so many spinach plants. I just happened to be driving home when I saw him in the garden so I stopped, no camera, no phone, no pictures. I wish I had pictures of that. That was first week of Sept he must have started seeds July 1st. I don't grow many greens or beans wife can't eat them with no gallbladder & 1 kidney.

[imafan26]

I actually get very nice chard. The stems are over 2.5 inches in diameter my garden. My garden is heavily amended with compost but it is basically red clay and leaf crops are fine but roots are another story. The Fordhook giant chard will have leaves over 18 inches. My garden is rich in nitrogen and over enriched with phosphorus and calcium. Most root crops grow leaves instead of roots. Leaf crops like chard get very big. It is a good cut and come again crop. I found out that if I pick the leaves younger, and cut off the thicker stems, it is less earthy tasting. Chard, komatsuna, NZ hot weather spinach, and sweet potato leaves are good substitutes for spinach which has a very short season here. Chard and kale are crops that I can grow year round. They can take both the heat and cooler weather.

I can grow beets and daikon in containers with more organic matter. I don't need them to be alkaline but I need the nitrogen to be relatively low and the potassium high. My soil has a pH of 6.2 but the beets do better with a pH of 6.8. Beets and carrots take longer to mature than stated on the packaging. I also have nematodes and most root crops are not nematode resistant. Recommended fertilizer was 5-10-10, I have 10-20-20 available so I use half as much. Beets need to be side dressed with nitrogen to promote leaves, then when the leaves are 4-5 inches tall, a side dressing of bone meal and potassium (muriate of potash 0-0-60, langbenite 0-0-22, or sulfate of potash 0-0-50) helps with the roots. I have problems with boron deficiency which shows up as black streaks in the roots, so I add a little borax as well. I haven't got it right yet. I get some medium sized beets and a lot of small ones. If I cut the nitrogen too soon the leaves actually shrink in size and the beet roots are smaller. If the nitrogen is too much, I will get leaves at the expense of roots.

Gary, I think your soil is better for root crops since you add all that potash and you don't have red clay soil.

[imafan26]

The sun came out in the afternoon, so I harvested one of the ginger totes. I ended up with 4.764 lbs of ginger at a current market price of $3.99 lb. It came out to a value of $19.00. One of the crops that is definitely worth growing. I preserved a jar full with Sherry. It usually will be enough for me for a year. I still have one more tote to go. That one is older but smaller. I planted seeds of Paris Cos romaine lettuce, red Russian kale, ruby chard, and mizuna.

Pulled a few weeds for about 5 minutes, and hoed some of the smaller weeds.

I harvested 2 cucumbers total wt 493 gms. They were not damaged and they were not sprayed or covered. Hopefully, the bugs have called it a year at least for the time being. Unfortunately, the birds have stepped up their raids on the garden.

I gave some of the ginger to my neighbor, and I called my sister to come get the cucumber and ginger. Hopefully, she does not forget.

I transplanted the rosemary cuttings into gallons and planted some of the table sweet potato leave slips into a six inch pot. I failed miserably rooting them first, so I am going to see how they will do with the slips directly planted into a 6 inch pot. If they take then I will transplant it into the 18 gallon container.

I think the cilantro is coming up already, but I also see some clover coming up as well in the pot.

[imafan26]

The clover overtook some of the cilantro seedlings. I pulled the clover out and reseeded the cilantro. It looks like they seeds are sprouting now.

The garlic does not look good. It may not make it. It is too late to start more, so I will let it go for a while until I need the bucket.

Picked some cucumbers and peppers yesterday and gave them away to a friend and rehomed a 2 gallon calamansi tree. It needed some tlc and I did not need three or four plants. I can start more from cuttings.

The rosemary cuttings I transplanted are all looking good. None of them showed any dried leaves.

I managed to fill both of my green bins yesterday with light stuff (weeds and trimmings from the shrubs) in about an hour.

The monarchs are going after the crown flowers.

The cold seems to be slowing the okra down. It takes longer for the okra to grow. On the other hand the zucchini is setting more fruit.

Valentine tomato has one ripe tomato. New big dwarf is being dwarfed by the daikon, it might not make it. I will have to start another one.

Some of the bush beans in the tower are starting to bud.

The other tower is struggling. The soil is older and it may be time to change it. The soil is staying very wet. The mizuna and ruby chard have sprouted. Still waiting on the snow peas and zucchini. The lettuce that is under planted with the eggplant should be ready to transplant as soon as I get the tower fixed.

I mowed the grass less than a week ago but the seed heads of the goose grass are already up. I have to mow again.

The winter orchids are starting to bloom.

Still have lots to do and not the motivation or energy to tackle the long list.

[imafan26]

I harvested 3 cucumbers, 4 okra, 2 bok choi, but only one was edible, a Meyer lemon, ginger and araimo. The araimo was a couple of months late in harvesting. Most of the araimo were rotten. I replanted a few of them and I have a few small ones that were left. I still have a couple of more cucumbers that should be ready to pick in a couple of days.

I am fluffing and replacing the soil in one of the towers. It is very wet so I am giving it a couple of days to dry out so it won't be so heavy to work.

[imafan26]

I harvested 3 more cucumbers, some okra, and eggplant. I am still having some pickle worm damage on the cucumbers, but not as much as before. I just mixed up a new bottle of Bt. yesterday. I just have to get out before it gets too dark to spray the cucurbits. I have previously harvested 2 zucchini. The Dunja zucchini was planted in May. It has snaked out of the pot and the stem is about 10 ft long now. The zucchini produces more at this time of year for me since the weather is cooler. June-August, there were hardly any zucchini that survived. It may not last much longer though, the stem looks a little weak in a couple of places.

It was a nice sunny day today and the HOA will be inspecting my street, so I got up early and weed whacked the weeds in the front yard. The battery died on the weed whacker halfway, so I had to split the session while the battery recharged.

In the meantime, I got the yard watered, planted on Partenon zucchini and continued to work on rebuilding the tower. I have the last two tiers to complete. I might even get it done today. I have been adding a 6 inch pot full of vermicast to each layer. My worm bin needs to be harvested, the muck is almost 6 inches deep and it is not good for the worms to be in that much of their own waste.

I think I got all of the ginger harvested from the two bins. I just have to dump the soil from the second bin. The garlic looks like a goner.

I have started too many seeds of Ruby Chard, Red Siberian Kale, Jericho Romaine, and Mizuna. Much more than I can put in both of my towers. I might fit some in the main garden. I may still have more left. I don't get too many takers for these things.

The sweet potato did not put out a very large vine but it is already starting to bloom. I am not sure that is a good thing at this point.

I have a few small bell and shishito peppers that are ripe.

Devotion DMR sweet basil does have downy mildew, but it is not killing the plant. I will try to cut it back. It will be hard to keep it mildew free in the rainy season. However, the tulsi, African, and Ajaka basil never have a problem with downy or powdery mildew. Although, some of them are getting old and need to be replaced.

I fertilized some of the plants yesterday and did a side dressing of sulfate of ammonia in the main garden. The broccoli looks good. The beans are so so. When the broccoli does come in, I may have too many again. I usually only plant two. I have about 8 and they are all the same age.

Snow peas, Valentine tomato, currant tomato, and daikon are doing o.k. Pension beans are flowering. I have them in a tree bag so seeds should be good to save. The youngest cucumber is starting to flower.

I added up my cost savings so far. I started keeping track in March and I did miss a few things but my savings so far on produce is over $500. Now, for the bad news, my costs were over $1,000. But I did buy the weed whacker, the second tower , two spinners for the tower, and some pots that will last a few years. I did buy sulfate of ammonia this year at 4x more than the last time, but a 20 lb bag can last me about 4 years. I bought some organic fertilizers which were very expensive and I got more of the citrus fertilizer I use for my pots. Perlite and Peat moss prices did not go up that much, but it was more of a problem because of availability. I bought fewer seeds but they cost more and the shipping went up a lot, so I still spent over $200 for that.

While I still have some organic fertilizer and media. I have abandoned trying to do organic in pots. It is just not worth it for me. I will use what I have, but I am mixing the organic with the synthetic fertilizers to improve the yields and avoid the nutritional deficiencies I have had problems with using the organic fertilizers alone. It is also a lot less work not to have to get the special fertilizers or do fish emulsion every week. The plants are healthier and I am having fewer pest issues now. It could also be the season, but my neighbor's hibiscus hedge is loaded with white flies, mealy bugs, hibiscus erineum mites, plant hoppers, and stink bugs which are getting on some of my plants. My plants are more resilient when they are not as stressed.

It is still a good deal growing most of my produce, considering the sorry state of produce in the market and the rising prices. I have been able to share some of what I grow with my friends, neighbors and family and it sure is better quality than what I find in the market. I still have to tweak the quantities and the timing of the planting so I will have less produce that gets too old or rots before I get to it. I have lemons, calamondin, and limes falling off the trees as I speak. My sister has been taking her lemons off early because she had too much and my mom has a bigger lime tree. (My lime is a cutting from her tree.) I still have ripe red peppers in the yard. I will go out today; harvest them and put them in the freezer.

This is an ambitious plan for me. I will try to get as much of this done as I can before I run out of energy. I need more caffeine today!

[imafan26]

On 11/27/2022 I planted seeds of orange marmalade bell pepper, cubanelle, Majestic Red bell pepper, Sweet Belle, Wailua pepper (jalapeno), Aristotle bell pepper, leeks, and garden chives.

It took a couple of days to replace the soil in the 6 tier tower garden. I did have some strawberries in it and some chard. I planted the other pockets mainly with the seed starts I had of Paris Cos Romaine, Red Siberian Kale, Mizuna,and Ruby chard. I also transplanted some King Richard leeks and planted seeds of more garden chives and green onions. I found slugs in the lower tier of the tower, so I put out slug bait. I added the turntable to that tower so now It will spin.

Today, I took apart the 5 tier tower and put a spinner under that tower. I pulled out the shishito pepper, cut back the devotion basil ( it still got basil downy mildew), It does have a couple of beans that are starting to flower and some Swiss chard. I left some Swiss chard on the tower, but the weaker ones were pulled. There were more slugs in this tower, so I put slug bait around this tower as well. I replanted the reamining pockets with maxibel bush beans (6 pockets on one tier), the other tiers I planted more of the ruby chard, mizuna, Red Russian kale, amd I planted one Italsian parsley that needed a home. I still have more chard, kale, mizuna, and a few romaine seedlings. I will hold on to them and see if I need to replace any in the towers. So far all of them are alive, but a couple of them are very small so they may still peter out.

I also planted more shishito pepper seeds. I picked all the red shishito peppers and froze them.

Today I harvested 1 cucumber (388 g), 3 calamansi(66g),eggplant (54 g), Okra(82 g) and string beans (42g)

Yesterday, I went to my Orchid club Christmas party. I got $50 in raffle tickets and got 13 plants. Half of them were orchids. 2 phals, and 4 dendrobium anosmum. There are all "Little Sweet Scent". I also got 7 succulents. Not a bad deal. It averaged $3.85 a plant. The phalaenopsis in bloom sell for about $18 each, the dendrobiums probably would sell for $6 each. They are seedlings so they will probably bloom in 2024. succulent dish for $15 and I had two of them. I had 5 single succulents, mainly crassula. The club had a hard time finding orchids this year, so succulents were added to the raffle. There are many people in the club who grow succulents as well as orchids. After three years on zoom with no orchid club meetings and not a lot of choices for orchids in the market, my collection needs replacements.

[imafan26]

Thanks for the tip Gary. The tower is only about 4 ft from my lanai and so it is in the shadow of the house most of the day. That is why I put it on the spinner so I can turn it more often. I did have the mover on the tower. I have the tower on a paver so it is hard to turn it with just the mover and not have it fall off the paver. The spinner was the easier solution. I might be able to hang an emergency blanket from the clothesline and that might help reflect more light.

[imafan26]

I finally uploaded my pictures from my camera. This is the garden update from Dec 5,2022. I had to load them on google drive or my desktop because one drive was full. I haven't figured out how to edit the pictures so they are not in the right orientation.

[imafan26]

I participated in the extention in the garden yesterday afternoon. The topic was pest control. I learned a new way to bait ants using hydrogel, and I scored some longer net bags. Hopefully, I will be able to protect more of the cucumber and zucchini this way. The net bags I have are 10 inches long, and it is too short for the cucumbers and zucchini, but works for almost everything else.

I am getting up early like before 4 a.m. My circadian rhythm is off. I am getting out into the garden later because the sun does not come up until 6:58 a.m. and so there isn't even pre-dawn light until at least 6:30. The sun sets at 5:50 p.m. I am sleeping earlier and getting up earlier as we approach the winter solstice where our shortest day will be a little less than 11 hours. My day length does not vary by more than a couple of hours in a year, but it still takes getting used to. I can't water in the dark, so I am watering the yard an hour later and that is throwing off my day.

I only have one more large pot to plant and that is the table sweet potato that is grown only for the leaves.

The Okinawan sweet potatoes are blooming. The leaves are not that voluminous, so I don't know if there will be potatoes to harvest. I did plant it late.

I still have a lot of things to do. A shorter day means I get less done because I still need my long breaks. Winter is the season where you wind down and move things inside. This is the peak season for me to grow almost everything, both temperate and cool season crops. It is also the best time to move plants in the garden and I have to weed the grass out of the pollen and nectar beds, clean up, and repot the plants that are overgrown while I still have potting mix.

I have cleaned up some of the dead pots out of the orchid benches and moved some of those around. I need to reclaim my orchid bench from the garden plants, I am running out of room.

I am harvesting okra, valentine tomatoes, peppers, chard, kale, a few green beans, eggplant, and herbs.
I have some cilantro big enough to harvest a few leaves and green papaya for salad or soup.

Most of the seedlings I planted in the towers are growing well. A couple of the smaller ones are taking a while longer. I will have to find places to plant the rest of the seedlings. I have wild tomato seedlings popping up all over the yard along with wild bitter melon and rama tulsi.

[applestar]

So fun to see the progress in your garden! It took me a 2nd look in the photo above to realize you meant that the black pot in the background is where the zuke *vine* is growing from.Wow!

I’ve liked that tower planter ever since you first posted a pic. I’ve been looking and pricing, and am hoping to catch a good price sometime.

[imafan26]

There are a couple of different manufacturers, but this had the best reviews and a patented watering system. The company has regular "sales" and special offers, like a special on a particular color. They don't have a lot of colors to choose from. The first one I ordered was a hybrid deluxe model with all the bells and whistles. They just had a promotion a couple of weeks ago. The second one was the original 5 tier tower with deep pockets. Both of them are about the same height which means I have to tiptoe or stand on a stool to see what is in the top tier. But it is good to have 30 and 36 extra pockets to plant vertically in a small footprint with smaller plants. Those plants would have taken up a lot of real estate planted in the main garden.

I found that I really don't use the plant supports that much. I don't grow cucumbers, or tomatoes in that system. For things like the peppers, bamboo stakes work just as well. The model I got came with a wheeled dolly which is good for someone on a flat surface or a balcony, but was a problem when the wheels sank into the mud with the heavy rain and the tower toppled three times. I put it on a large level paver so that issue is solved but there isn't room to move the tower and the paver is off the ground so it will topple if I try to move it off the paver. They have a 20% off sale now which is between $10-$20 difference. They have not raised the price of the product but the shipping has gone up a lot. The original tier holds 1 cubic foot of soil the shorter tier is about 7 inches deep and holds about 3/4 cu ft of soil. The base price does not include the extras like the spinners, wheeled base or plant supports. Other manufactures have smaller pockets and hold less soil which makes their products much cheaper but will limit what you can plant in them.

The company does sell parts separately. It isn't cheap because the parts are patented as well, but I am looking at it as a long term investment. I have to pay for shipping, but in the continental U.S. most things will include shipping if you buy the minimum amount. I bought extra watering trays because mine warped after the tower fell over too many times and the most recent addition was the spinners which makes it so much easier to turn to water the towers and to even out the amount of light the towers get. It also makes it easier to harvest since I don't have to go between the pots to get to some of the pockets. I contemplated getting the net bag that was designed for the tower but I think I can use my insect netting and the planter supports to make my own cheaper.

I was surprised that this zucchini has lasted so long and I did not expect it to travel so far away from the pot either. I just planted the other zucchini, Partenon, from a seedling started a week ago. It is more compact growing and it already is starting to make buds.

[imafan26]

My nephew came yesterday and cut down the bilimbi tree with his chain saw. I don't really like the fruit and I can use the space for other things. I won't have to remove branches three times a year either.

[imafan26]

I took two of the bilimbi stumps to the green waste recycling center. I stump is still in the can. It is very windy today and overcast. It is 77 degrees. I watered the garden late. The perpetual spinach was unhappy about that.

I harvested an assortment of string beans from Provider, Contender, and Maxibel. I don't have large plantings of any of the beans but they are all coming in at the same time. Total wt for today was 218 g. I harvested 3 okra, but only two were good for a total wt of 25 g. The Meyer lemon tree fell down in the wind and lost a small lemon, so I saved it (55g). I got 106 g of eggplant from Poamoho Dark which is a lot happier in the new pot.

The monarch caterpillars have devoured the crown flower leaves in the front yard.

I cleaned out my frig. One potato went bad but the rest were ok. I made potato mac salad. That will last me at least three or four days. The old celery was half gone and some of the carrots are turning black. My veggie drawer is still full with okra, eggplant, beans, and zucchini from the garden. I need to use them or freeze them. I already froze some peppers which I mistook for char siu. It ended up in my saimin, but it was still good, just not something I had ever put in saimin before.

The Tokyo Bekana in the garden is turning to mush. I guess it is time to replant that pot. I checked the daikon and it has not shown any roots yet. Some of the tomatoes are ripening and one of the volunteer tomatoes may have TYLCV. If it does, it will need to be pulled. I found another cucumber to bag. Two of the cucumbers are slowing down. I may have to start a replacement for one of them.

Most of the transplants in the tower are still surviving, but I planted pepper seeds on the lowest tier. So far, I am still waiting for germination. It will be slower in the cooler weather and shorter days.
.

[imafan26]

Yesterday, I worked on getting the grass out of my pollen and nectar garden. I am only half done. My arm was getting pretty bloody since the roses are in the pollen and nectar garden and they are not the easiest things to work around.

I also cleaned out my worm bin. There was a small frog in the bin that I evicted. Not as many roaches or ants as the last time. I will have to re sift the vermicast in a few days to sift out more worms.

[imafan26]

Harvested cucumber, okra, and beans today. It is a nice sunny day today. I just can't figure out how to edit these photos in windows 11.

[imafan26]

It has been raining since 3 a.m. I don't need to water anything today. I just got my water bill. I used 5k gallons in November and December. So my water usage has decreased by about 3k gallons. At least a step in the right direction. I am still paying more for water since the water rates and sewer charges keep rising. I got $0 irrigation credit even though most of the water is going into the yard.

I have cercospora leaf spot on the chard and one of the tomatoes looks like it hasTYLCV so I will have to pull that one out. I have harvested the beans twice and there are a few more flowers. The tomatoes have a lot of flowers and there were a few tomatoes that "disappeared". I suspect the birds took them since they are small grape tomatoes and are not covered in netting.

The longer cucumber net bags are working out better. I still have some pickle worm damage because it is hard to bag the cucumbers when they are very small, but I am better able to keep them from boring into the larger cucumbers.

Most of the chard, kale, and lettuce I transplanted into the towers are alive and growing, albeit some are growing really slow. Some of the pepper seeds I planted in the pockets have started to sprout as well.
I still have more plants in the compots to put out. I will have to wait for the rain to stop to take care of that. Right now, everything is soaked.

I did plant some flower seeds in the pollen and nectar garden ahead of the rain. Rain usually gets them to germinate faster if they don't get washed away. As usual the weeds are loving the rain.

I made pork with eggplant with all the eggplant I harvested. I finally finished it today. Now, I have to work on the beans, cucumber, beets, and okra. More eggplant are coming. I have cilantro now that is big enough to start harvesting leaves.

[imafan26]

The rain continued but started to clear around 4 p.m. It is still windy with some stronger gusts. I went out to check the yard during a break in the rain and I did have to reconnect one of the shade bench frames. Another one is down but it did not have a cover on it and it will be safe where it is. One of the spare trellises also fell over. The leaves from the neighbors weedy tree is all over my yard, having been torn off by the wind. There are some puddles in the yard and a bucket and some thing got blown over on the lanai. The lanai did not flood.

I picked 5 cucumbers (total wt 1978 g or 4.36 lbs). The plants held up but I was afraid the wt of the fruit would weigh down the trellises too much. Some of the soil I topped off along the driveway eroded and washed onto the sidewalk, but it was not as bad as the washout yesterday. There was more lightening and thunder last night and today. the tower gardens are both still standing. Yeah!

[imafan26]

Picked the first Poamoho beans today and some Maxibel beans for a total wt 113 g. I saw the first Partenon zucchini and one broccoli head is starting to form. Planted lettuce in the empty pockets of the towers. And planted seeds of Tokyo long green onions and Soarer cucumber. Lightly watered. It has been windy today. The smaller containers are drying out. I emptied the water guage. The was 1.5 inches of rain in the last two days. There is another big cucumber to pick and I bagged two others, so I think now I have 4 bagged and there are a couple of little ones I have to wait on. The eggplant has about 6 eggplant now.

Weed whacked the front yard and resifted the vermicast from a few days ago and put the worms I found back in the worm bin. I gave the worms the broken Swiss chard leaves and sweet potato leaves. That should last them at least a week.

The weeds I treated are starting to die back except for the asparagus fern and the bleeding heart. I may have to hit them again.

I had a cucumber for dinner. It was a big one so it was quite filling.

I got my seed orders from MI gardener, Seeds n Such, and Ferry Morse. Some things are still out of stock, but I should not need much more.

[imafan26]

I watered the garden for the first time since the rain stopped a couple of days ago. The partenon zucchini doubled in size and the first zucchini was ready to pick. On the other hand the Dunja zucchini which is actually older is still growing. I am happy with Dunja's resilience and that it is even alive at all, but it does have a shaggy vine that is drying in spots, so it may be time to replace it. I have to think about that, Partenon has two more zucchinis that are 3 inches long. One may be enough for a while.

[imafan26]

I did finally plant the sweet potato leaves. The snow pea pot has fallen over twice today. The tapered pot is unstable with a 5 ft trellis on it. It is windy but cool, so most of the plants did not need to be watered. I did water the smaller pots and cuttings and the pots that are under the eaves. The pockets I transplanted are alive. One of the watering trays in the tower is bent and water was flooding one of the pockets. I was able to push it back into place so hopefully, that fixes it. I ordered two extra watering trays if it gets worse.

I put in a small order for a few more seeds today to take advantage of a seed sale.

[imafan26]

It is 63 degrees at 7 a.m. and overcast, it should clear after the sun comes up. I don't have to water everything everyday. But, I am getting lazier about checking the plants. The bougainvillea is losing leaves because it still likes to be watered everyday.
I have a couple of zucchini, some chard, eggplant, okra, and beans in the refrigerator. I am going to saute the zucchini with bacon, onions and butter as a side dish. The chard will be sauteed with bacon, onions, and a splash of wine vinegar. I cooked rice yesterday. Today, I will make pork with eggplant. I have been just microwaving the beans and okra as a side dish with some butter. I am now in my winter harvest season and it has not peaked yet. I am getting about 4 cucumbers a week as well.

[imafan26]

It is only a couple of days to New Year's eve. My daikon leaves weren't very big, but they have been in the pot a long time. I pulled them out anyway. Most of them did not have any roots, not a surprise considering how small the tops were. A couple of them were about the size of a baby carrot. Well, that was not going to be enough.

I went to the store this morning to pick up the rest of the things I needed to make nishime. Daikon, gobo (burdock), carrots,lotus root (hasu),konyaku, and aburage (fried tofu pocket). That cost about $12.00. Not bad for a grocery day. I also got sushi but I did not count it in the cost. Not cheap either. The only good thing is that, it will last a few days. I am going to be using the araimo I harvested and I already have konbu (seaweed), bamboo shoots, and shitake mushrooms. Some of these things like the lotus root is not available year round and aburage and gobo are sometimes hard to find anytime of the year.

In the meantime, I made pork with eggplant today to use up the eggplant.

I harvested a few string beans and okra this morning and I have another cucumber I need to pick as well. It is already over a foot long.

Lettuce is finally starting to look like they are actually growing. Most of the seeds have sprouted. I need to repot or transplant some of the kale, hollyhocks, green onions and peppers. The oregano finally has covered the bowl so I can take cuttings. The sweet potato leaves I planted in the 18 gallon pot is starting to take off. I will need to get a trellis for that pot to contain it. Some peppers look like they are going dormant. They lost most of their leaves, or I just need to water them more. They are used to being watered everyday. They might just not like watering every other day.

The Okinawan sweet potatoes are flowering but the vines are not very big. I did plant them very late. Maybe they did not like that. I am not going to try to harvest it and see what happens. If the tops die then there isn't much I can do. Normally sweet potatoes are planted in the spring and they need about 140-180 warm days. This is the first time I planted them so late in the year. The shorter, cold and wet days may be holding them back. Well, I should have done the research first.
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepub ... ES-146.pdf

[imafan26]

It is 67 degrees and sunny. I finally raked up the leaves yesterday. It took longer than I thought it would. I found one extra large cucumber that something was nibbling on and a few weedy tree seedlings. Better to get them out while I still could.

This morning I harvested 2 Diamond eggplant (132 g), 2 okra pods (19g), broccoli (88 g.) This is a sprouting broccoli so it does not make a large head but will produce many small side shoots until it gets too hot. Dunja zucchini (182 g), and cucumber 1459g. There were 4 cucumbers the largest was 650 g, the smallest "fell off" when I was looking for cucumbers at 126 grams.

I can't fit it all in the refrigerator crisper. So, for dinner tonight I am going to try a new recipe. I have these from the garden: zucchini, grape tomatoes (I haven't picked yet), citrus (lemons and limes), Italian parsley, basil (Devotion, it does not taste like sweet basil, but it is what I've got besides tulsi). The rest of the ingredients I already have. I have some frozen rotisserie chicken in the freezer to go with it.
https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-I ... ato-pasta/